Chile Forum

Pardon me if things have changed.
We were last in Chile about 4 years ago and were involved helping in a couple of family moves to new properties. Does the practice still exist of new houses coming without any light fittings, just bare wires sticking out of the wall?
One house was average 3 bed semi, other was 4 bed detached and both were the same. You noticed it too when going round new houses for sale (not the show home).
Anyway, being wise to this we were tooled up with sockets (the ones that just push onto bare wires, no screwdriver needed) and bulbs on arrival.
Some kitchens are like this too, just a sink on a base. I guess it depends how much the contractors can get away with.

Thought this might be a heads up to other unsuspecting gringos, especially if you get the keys to your dream pad late in the afternoon when Sodimac is shut.

Not just new homes without lights,they tear them out of rentals as well when they vacate. We have some lovely coloured wires sticking out of our ceiling in the Kitchen and Lounge.

mardy wrote:Not just new homes without lights,they tear them out of rentals as well when they vacate. We have some lovely coloured wires sticking out of our ceiling in the Kitchen and Lounge.

Mardy,

We just experienced this in our rental... Ximena told me that we had no lights, so I asked her, why hasn't the electric company turned on the power? ... she said no, not electricity, no lights! I said, what do you mean no lights?? Anyway she proceeded to tell me that when you rent, you bring your own light fixtures!!! :-S I was amazed. So I told her to buy some lights and I will install upon my arrival in Santiago!

My question for the group is, will I encounter anything much different that wiring a light in USA? Anything I need to be aware of before I get the shock of my life?

Thanks,

John

Bring some cool lightweight hangable light shades (like those expandable Japanese dealies) which you can always replace with more solid fixtures.

Anything I need to be aware of before I get the shock of my life?

yes, it's 220/240.

OH YES,

Be very sure you TURN OFF THE POWER before you go playing with the wiring. It sounds like advice one should not have to give, but every year someone gets
whacked for playing around with wiring without turning off the power

Got my new prosthesis yesterday.

1eyedJack and the Dawg

Also the power isn’t phased so it doesn’t matter which wire from the fixture you hook o the lead and what one to the ground. It took me a couple minutes to figure this one out. My father in law was trying to explain it to me t I had only been there 3 days when I put in the light o I was having trouble understanding what he was saying… I the end we it done and he house hasn’t burnt down yet and it has been almost 3 years.

j. Ro wrote:Also the power isn’t phased so it doesn’t matter which wire from the fixture you hook o the lead and what one to the ground. It took me a couple minutes to figure this one out. My father in law was trying to explain it to me t I had only been there 3 days when I put in the light o I was having trouble understanding what he was saying… I the end we it done and he house hasn’t burnt down yet and it has been almost 3 years.

Ok great... thanks for the heads-up!

John

yea, in general I think that is a perk over say them raising the rent because they put in 20,000 pesos worth of the cheapest / ugliest light fixtures from Sodimac they could find.

mardy wrote:Not just new homes without lights,they tear them out of rentals as well when they vacate. We have some lovely coloured wires sticking out of our ceiling in the Kitchen and Lounge.

They do this in Mexico too. I had to install a few myself.....

Oops... looks like I could be incorrect about the it being the phase of the electricity being different, I was trying to remember what my father-in-law said and even with my wife translating there must have been something lost. Because I have been looking into it more since I posted and it doesn't seem like the phase of the power would have any effect.

But what I said about being able to connect either wire of the appliance/fixture to the "hot" lead still applies. You will notice that in Chile there is no backwards way to plug something in. Unlike here in North America where the prongs are slightly different sizes.

What I found really annoying about the whole light-installation experience, in an apartment and then a house with concrete walls and ceilings, was the need to rent not an ordinary drill, but a heavy-duty hammer drill (rotomartillo) just to make the little holes to be able to screw the fixtures on. Every time I wanted to hang up a picture, too. Finally I got my husband to buy me one for Mother's Day (mmm....power tools...).

If you don't want to rent or buy a drill (and possibly a ladder) and you have concrete ceilings, definitely get the lights installed for you--this is simple enough to arrange at Easy or Sodimac, and reasonably inexpensive.